Phillies knock off Braves on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off error

The previously red hot Atlanta Braves were cooled off in New York to begin the week. Now it would appear they’re frozen after dropping their weekend series opener 1-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The fact the game ended 1-0 is painful enough for Atlanta. That they only mustered two hits against Aaron Harang, who was in their rotation last season, adds some salt to the wound. But the kicker has to be their defense, which committed four errors on the evening. The final one led directly to the game’s only run, as Freddie Freeman was unable to handle Ben Revere’s ninth-inning chopper.

Freeman and the entire infield were drawn in on the play to cut down the winning run at home. It might have worked, but the ball squirted away before Freeman could corral it, which allowed Freddy Galvis to sprint home. It goes down as a game-winning RBI for Revere, and a walk-off error for Freeman, who committed only five errors all last season.

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Galvis had three hits in the game, including his single leading off the ninth. He advanced to second on a sacrifice and third on a passed ball by A.J. Pierzynski, so that’s even more sloppy defense from Atlanta. 

Unfortunately, it goes as a no-decision for Harang, who was lights out in his eight innings of work. He struck out six and lowered his ERA to 1.37. Overall, the Phillies will take any win they can get after dropping 9 of their previous 11.   

KING FELIX OVERWHELMS THE TWINS
Felix Hernandez against the Minnesota Twins offense is not a fair fight, but it’s a challenge the Twins were forced to take on Friday night.

Hint: They didn’t win. 

The King of Seattle’s rotation lived up to his moniker with an efficiently dominant outing, as he shut out the Twins on just five hits. In fact, the Twins had zero baserunners until two outs in the fifth. Hernandez, perhaps humoring them or perhaps toying with them, allowing a pair of runners in the sixth, but escaped without allowing a run. He ended up needing just 102 pitches to complete his first shutout since Aug. 27 2012.

Amazingly, it really has been that long. On Friday, Hernandez struck out nine. On the other side, Phil Hughes matched him with nine strikeouts and went eight full for Minnesota. Unfortunately, he allowed solo home runs to Nelson Cruz and Logan Morrison, and those held up in Seattle’s 2-0 win. 

SHANE GREENE CRASHES BACK TO EARTH
After three trips through the starting rotation, right-hander Shane Greene had been far and away Detroit’s most effective starter. That wasn’t exactly expected when they acquired him from the New York Yankees, but his one run allowed through 23 innings entering play on Friday was surely welcomed.

Of course, with that great start came some trepidation considering he’d only struck out 11 batters during that time. When the ball is in play frequently, the odds for clunker obviously increase, and that’s the exact scenario that played out in Friday’s 13-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

In four innings, Greene was tagged for eight runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out one, but mostly watched on helplessly as the Indians peppered the gaps with four doubles and racked five timely singles. The pummeling took his sparkling ERA from 0.39 to 3.00, which is a huge jump, but still a very good ERA considering Friday’s damage. 

Focusing on the Indians, Brandon Moss hit two home runs after Greene left the game and drove in seven runs. Danny Salazar struck out 11 to pick up the win. 

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ROCKIES ARE GOING STREAKING
After sweeping the Giants in San Francisco and then losing five in a row to Los Angeles and San Diego, the Rockies are back on a three-game streak after knocking off the Giants 6-4 in Denver.

The Rockies continued riding the sizzling hot bats of D.J. Lemahieu (three hits, two RBIs), Corey Dickerson (two hits, RBI) and Nolan Arenado (two hits). With Troy Tulowitzki getting a routine day off, Carlos Gonzalez stepped up as well with two hits, raising his average .197.

They also received more stellar defense from Arenado, who started a key double play with a diving stop. Young starter Eddie Butler was inefficient but competent for his fourth straight outing this season, allowing four runs over six innings. However, if you know anything about Rockies pitching historically, inefficient but competent basically translates to stellar.

Here, it was good enough to win, which Colorado passed San Diego into second place.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813